Habits of Peacocks

Written by hans fredrick| 13/05/2017

The male peafowl is referred to as a peacock. (Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images)

The peacock is well known for its beautiful tail feathers. These feathers are prized and used in art throughout the world. However, despite the instant recognition most people have of a peacock's feathers, few know much about the bird itself, such as its feeding, sleeping or mating habits.

Feeding

Peacocks can fly quite well, but they find the majority of their food on the ground. They eat some plant material, but this isn't the favourite food of the species. Most of the time, peacocks are interested in eating insects. A peacock requires a high percentage of protein in its diet to stay healthy, and it gets most of that from insects.

Night

During the night, peacocks do not typically stay on the ground. Instead, they fly up into the trees in the forest and roost there. The peacock is native to India and also found in Sri Lanka and Burma, and their territory includes a great deal of forest cover. Despite being such a large bird, the peacock has no trouble easily flying up into the tree tops.

Mating Habits

True "peacocks" are only the males of the peafowl species. These birds have huge feathers that feature the brilliant colours with an "eye" in the centre of each feather. The peacocks spread out their feathers and display them in a prominent fashion to try and attract mates during the mating season. The males try to attract multiple females into a breeding harem. The males have a sort of ritual that they do which involves shaking feathers and acting as if there is food on the ground to attract the interest of the females.

Calls

Peacocks make several distinctive noises. A peacock uses his mating call to attract females to his region before he can begin the mating dance. The calls are penetrating and heard very far away in the wild. The peacock has 11 calls, each of which is distinct. Another call is used as a type of alarm system. When a peacock spots a predator he will begin to make a loud call that warns other animals in the region of a predator.